وَالشَّمسُ تَجري لِمُستَقَرٍّ لَها ۚ ذٰلِكَ تَقديرُ العَزيزِ العَليمِ
And the sun runs on to its place of rest: that is the ordaining of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.
EXEGESIS
Mustaqarr (place of rest) could be used for both time and place. Therefore, it indicates a set or an appointed time or place for the sun’s movement, which does not pass beyond it.
Taqdīr (ordaining) also means measuring, and here it refers to God ordaining things after careful measurement of all its aspects by which it has to be accommodated in creation in the best manner. Indeed We have created everything in a measure (qadar) (54:49).
EXPOSITION
This verse indicates that the sun moves towards a place or a time where or when it ends its colossal journey.
The sun has different movements. One movement is the local circular motion around its axis, which is against the apparent meaning of the word runs (tajrī) in this verse. The other movement is its motion, along with the whole solar system, orbiting around the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The verse may allude to such a movement and mentions that this movement will not last forever; it will come to an end at an appointed time. Taking mustaqarr to mean an appointed time rather than rest or residing place seems more plausible. The third type of movement is the motion of the sun and the solar system, along with other celestial bodies altogether, in a linear direction toward the star Vega. This movement is based on the idea of the continuous expansion of the universe, which causes celestial bodies to move away from each other.
That is the ordaining of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing. The sun is 1,300,000 times bigger than the earth, and it moves at an average speed of 828,000 km/hr. To dispose the sun to run in such an accurate and consistent manner to make life possible on earth needs great power and measurement. Because of its size, heat, velocity, and internal agitation, the sun does not seem to be a controllable object unless an unimaginable power subdues it. This is possible by none save Allah, whose power and knowledge know no limit.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said to Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar: ‘Now consider the sun’s motion through the twelve zodiac belts to complete a year and its underlying ordinance. This motion of the sun is the period that comprises the four seasons – winter, summer, autumn, and spring, in their completeness. Grains and fruits ripen during this annual movement of the sun to meet human needs. The cycle of development goes on repeating. Don’t you know that the sweep of this sun across the heavenly belt, from the Pisces belt back to it, constitutes one year? The year, etc., has continued as the calculating measure of time since the beginning of the world in all past ages. People calculate thereby the periods of lifespans, loans, contracts, and other business matters. The year is complete with the sun’s movement, and a correct estimate of time is established. Look at the sunrise over the world and how He ordains it. If the sun would shine only at one spot of the horizon constantly, without changing its place, the benefits of its rays would not spread in all directions due to the interpolation of mountains and walls. Thus, it was made to rise from the east in the forenoon, shedding its light on objects opposite in the west, to move on constantly, extending its light from side to side till it goes on to the west to shed its light on objects which failed to receive it in the forenoon, so as not to allow any corner to remain without the benefit and purpose it is meant to serve. On the contrary, if for a whole or a part of the year the situation changed, you can imagine the plight of human beings. In fact, what chance would they have to survive at all? Does not man observe such magnificent planning, wherein his schemes would utterly fail? They function automatically without negligence, nor do they lag the time regulated to manage the world’s organisation and maintenance.’
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night, they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
- I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood red, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[1] Mizan, 17/94-96.
[2] Lane, p. 2500.
[3] Lane, p. 2495.
[4] Amthal, 14/176-177.
[5] Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar, Tawḥīd Mufaḍḍal, (Najaf: Ḥaydariyyah Printing, 1955), pp. 80-81.
[6] Psalms 19:1-6.
[7] Joel 2:30-32.